Pep Band’s school spirit remarkable

The Poly wants to take this staff editorial in order to give a shout out to the Pep Band. Every weekend during hockey season, the band rouses up school spirit and gets the crowd excited. They perform at all men’s and women’s home hockey games throughout the season. A classic saying is that even if the team loses, the band always wins the game; they continue to try to keep everyone amped and full of spirit. A lot of the band’s antics seem like they are designed to try to throw off the opposing team, such as playing during their time out and also taunting players every time a penalty is on them.

The band plays a particularly outsize role during Black Friday and Saturday, which are this week, when the Engineers are going to be taking on the Dutchmen of Union College at the Houston Field House on Friday, and away at Union on Saturday. In fact, this upcoming game is one of the few that the band travels to, in an effort to represent RPI student spirit on the road. Also, Freakout (or really Freakend to most of us) is crazy, and the band’s presence makes it even more awesome.

We also realize that a lot of people can take the Pep Band for granted because they are such a consistent presence at every single game. We encourage everyone to recognize that their presence would certainly be missed if they could not make it to a game. There are many clubs on campus, but Pep Band is one of the oldest and is definitely visible at RPI home hockey games, which are a key part of the student experience for many of us here at RPI.

The next time you are at a hockey game—which should be this Friday—listen in and even join in on the chants. It’s important to keep the spirit alive!